The chess board made a soft clack as his opponent placed the piece. His eyes narrowed. He locked his phone and took his feet off the table and sat up. He looked at the board, he could take down his opponent's king in two moves. He quickly moved his knight into position, ready to strike. He grinned, knowing his opponent couldn't see his excitement through his mask. "Check." His opponent laughed. "You aren't very good at this, mate." he said moving a piece in place. He frowned realizing his mistake. He quickly moved a pawn in the way as cannon fodder. His opponent eliminated the pawn and chuckled. "You need to bloody focus instead of looking at junk."
"My antiques saved your butt plenty, comrade," he said annoyed.
His opponent stood up and stretched. He slid a bishop across the board. "Checkmate."
"Was that 'Check, mate' or 'Checkmate,' your accent makes chess confusing game, Smoke." He said sitting back. He turned on his phone and returned to scrolling through the antique weapons for sale.
Smoke stood up and walked to the counter and cabinets on the wall. "Look at the board, mate. Did you lose?" He opened up a cabinet and pulled out a glass.
"I'd beat you on range and in bar." Tachanka chuckled.
Smoke paused in front of the water cooler. "Wanna test your statement?" He instead stepped back to grab a second glass and a bottle of liquor from the cabinet.
"Save the drinking for later boys." A woman said from the doorway to the offices. "Can't have two of my best men passed out in the lounge when I get a new op."
"Six, you ruin all the fun!" Smoke smiled.
"Is only friendly competition. I will beat him fast and then we can work on op, da?" Tachanka said jokingly.
"In your dreams, Red." Smoke smiled and poured himself a glass. "What's the op?"
"Rumors of a bomb threat in a French Consulate."
"Which one?" Smoke asked taking a sip.
Six shrugged. "We don't know, but we gotta find out. Let's go." She turned to lead to the Operations Room, but Smoke didn't follow. She doubled back expecting something from them.
"Isn't the Paper Monkeys' job to find out?" Smoke said concerned. "We're the badass jarheads who shoot the bad guys. What do we have to do with the investigation?"
"Da, Badass, not investigator." Tachanka said sitting up again.
"Higher-ups said all hands on deck. Let's go." Responded Six. She disappeared into the hallway.
Smoke looked at Tachanka and shrugged. Then he followed Six. Tachanka stood up and moved around the table. He grabbed the caramel-colored liquor as he passed it. He took a sip and wrenched his face. "Vodka much better."
As they walked to the Operations room, Six asked that they assemble the rest of Team Rainbow. "Yes, ma'am." Smoke said as he turned down the corridor to the bunks. Suddenly automatic fire sounded from behind them. Two weapons fired simultaneously. Smoke and Tachanka instinctively drew their sidearms. They stepped in front of Six and began advancing towards the shots.
"Is that coming from the obstacle course?" Six asked as they approached. They stacked at the doorway. The symphony of the dueling guns continued in bursts. Smoke and Tachanka began signaling their plans to breach.
"Aww, I'm hit!" Someone yelled from inside, they gave up planning and kicked the door open. They saw one man lying on the ground in full protective armor and an assault rifle next to him. Another person walked up holding a Vector. The mask covered their faces. The man on the ground writhed in pain, holding his shoulder. The other lifted their mask. "Hey boys, Six." Mira smiled. "Jackal is a little coward puta." She chuckled.
"Elena, you shot him!" Six exclaimed. Both Tachanka and Smoke's weapons were trained on the Spanish woman.
She ejected her magazine, "Rubber bullets don't hurt that bad." Six started to scold them but didn't know what to say.
Jackal began to pick himself up cursing in Spanish. Tachanka and Smoke lowered their weapons and the Russian began to chuckle. Jackal shot him an angry look. "Stop laughing you Russian pendejo." Tachanka stopped immediately. He scowled and looked at Mira.
"What he say?" Tachanka growled.
Mira laughed, putting her finger on the ejection handle, ready to clear the chamber. "Its like 'idiot,' but meaner."
Six scoffed, "Stop acting like children-"
"Shoot him." Tachanka said leaving the room with a grin. Six was shocked at her operatives recklessness.
Mira shrugged and fired her last rubber bullet into the padded back of Jackal and smiled as well. Jackal stumbled forward into a padded obstacle on the course. The bullet bounced into the air towards Smoke. He caught it and held it up. "I think I will keep this as a souvenir."
Jackal stood up once more and grabbed his rifle. "Let's go again," he growled, "I want to kick your-"
"Hey! No more firefights! We've got an op to run." Six finally broke. "Remind me to kick both your asses when we're done." She stomped away towards the operations room. "Briefing in 10." She yelled.
Smoke chuckled looking at the angry Jackal and cheerful Mira. "So its agreed that you handle my reports for the next month?" Mira said in a tone that only made Jackal angrier.
"Whatever puta." He said unloading his rifle.
